This Is TASTE

The Specialty Food Association's Summer Fancy Food Show is where the next year of grocery shelves gets decided, and Dan Frommer, founder of The New Consumer and one of the sharpest minds tracking how people spend their money, was there for all of it. Dan joins Matt to unpack the trends and new products they spotted on the floor of the Javits Center this week in New York. We talk about sparkling water, functional cookies, and some emerging categories that surprised even us.

Check out Dan’s 2026 Mid-Year Consumer Trends Report.

Brands mentioned on the episode:

Mr. Pickles Industries

Wandel

Mad Mutz

The Great Chestnut Experiment

Ginja Snap

Folkland Foods

Buffs

Rodeo Snacks

Monte's Fine Foods

Gamsa Foods

Sooki

Dirty Virgo

Nomina Sparkling Water

David Protein


Field GoodsYakitori Guy Sauce

Manischewitz


50 Hertz

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Jason Stewart, cohost of How Long Gone and one of food media’s sharpest outside voices, returns to the studio. We talk about his early vegan days, his current London dining life, and what he’s enjoying in his hometown of Los Angeles. We also revisit some of his past TASTE writing, including a review of Noma in Copenhagen.

Get your tickets for ⁠⁠⁠⁠This Is TASTE Live with Claire Saffitz⁠⁠⁠⁠ at Rizzoli Bookstore in New York City on July 7.
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It’s the return of Food Writers Talking About Food Writing. Every couple of weeks, Matt invites a journalist to talk about some favorite recent food writing as well as their thoughts on the industry as a whole. Luke Fortney went from covering New York’s restaurant scene at Eater to contributing weekly to the terrific New York Times food newsletter ⁠Where to Eat⁠. In this episode, we talk about the dream of the $50 dinner in New York, changes at the grocery store, Canada’s big showing at North America’s 50 Best, and how restaurants can think about a membership mode.

Featured on the episode:


But First, Restaurant [NYT]


The New Grocer [Snaxshot]


The Dream of a $50 Dinner Is Still Alive at These Restaurants [NYT]


Why don't more restaurants have memberships? [Expedite]


Oh, Canada [Caper]

Get your tickets for ⁠⁠⁠This Is TASTE Live with Claire Saffitz⁠⁠⁠ at Rizzoli Bookstore in New York City on July 7.
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Tadashi Ono spent nine years as executive chef of La Caravelle, one of America’'s great French restaurants—twice earning a three-star New York Times review—before walking away to cook the Japanese food he actually wanted to cook. Since then, he’s run Matsuri and Maison O; written four cookbooks with Harris Salat on Japanese hot pots, grilling, and comfort food; and opened Teruko, a sushi bar and Japanese restaurant in the subterranean belly of the Hotel Chelsea. We talk about his long career and his latest cookbook, Japanese Comfort Cooking.

Get your tickets for ⁠⁠⁠This Is TASTE Live with Claire Saffitz⁠⁠⁠ at Rizzoli Bookstore in New York City on July 7.
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Rita Gigante is not your average food influencer. She’s a psychic medium and healer and the author of The Godfather’s Daughter, an autobiography about growing up as the daughter of notorious Genovese crime family boss Vincent “Chin” Gigante. Rita is passionate about creating videos that showcase the old-school Italian restaurants and food businesses of her childhood, creating a new generation of fans, and it’s so fun to have her in the studio to talk about her lifelong interest in food.

And it’s the return of Three Things, where Aliza and Matt discuss what’s interesting in the food world, including Matt’s trip to BevNET Live with introductions to the great Umma Juice, Cabu, and Dad Grass Leisure Drinks. Also: Visits to Xi’an Famous Foods in Midtown, the newly opened Uovo in NoMad, Pizzeria Panina in Ridgewood, and Supreme Restaurant in Manhattan Chinatown. Lastly, love for Saicho hojicha. 

Get your tickets for ⁠⁠This Is TASTE Live with Claire Saffitz⁠⁠ at Rizzoli Bookstore in New York City on July 7.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices